The No. 2 player on this list was No. 1 a year ago. After a season saddled with injuries last year, he is healthy now and looking to build on the way he closed the Big Ten season in 2017.
No. 2 — Mike Weber, rJr. Running Back
Last year, Mike Weber was expected to follow up on his 1,000-yard season from 2016 with an even better season as a redshirt sophomore. Hamstring injuries kept him from being healthy at the start of the season, which opened the door for J.K. Dobbins.
While missing two games entirely and only carrying the ball more than five times in just seven games, Weber rushed for 626 yards and 10 touchdowns on 101 carries (6.2 ypc).
All 10 of Weber’s touchdowns came in Big Ten play last year, and in those nine conference games he averaged 10 carries and 63 yards rushing per game. His 10 touchdowns were second to Penn State’s Saquon Barkley.
Weber got healthy late in the season and responded with 162 yards against Michigan State, 108 yards against Illinois, and 57 yards against Michigan. He averaged 109 yards rushing on just 11 carries per game in that three-game stretch. While expecting him to average 10 yards per carry in 2018 is unrealistic, he did show just how productive he could be when healthy and splitting carries with Dobbins.
Statistical History
What He Does Well
Weber gets the tough yards, which is why he finished with more touchdowns than J.K. Dobbins despite having half the carries that Dobbins had.
As a redshirt freshman in 2016, Weber got tripped up right as gigantic holes were opening up. He went into the offseason focused on eliminating those issues from his game. Unfortunately, the injury kept him from showing that improvement until late in the season.
We saw his new deep speed against Michigan State where he had touchdown runs of 47 and 82 yards.
Weber has always had great balance and good power. He can find small holes and get the most out of them. Now he has added the get-up-and-go to an already dangerous repertoire.
Make no mistake, Mike Weber is one of the top five running backs in the Big Ten, and he may be top three.
Mike Weber in 2018
With the departure of J.T. Barrett, there are now 13 carries per game available to be spread out among players like Mike Weber, Dwayne Haskins, and Demario McCall.
The Buckeyes spent the spring trying to figure out how to get both Weber and Dobbins on the field together and they seem to think they have things figured out.
There should be no reason that Dobbins and Weber can’t split 30 carries in a way that allows them both to be productive and consistent. That will also allow them to be fresh. We saw what Weber looked like last year when he was fresh late in the season, and we also saw what Dobbins looked like when he wasn’t (he was getting caught from behind after breaking free from the defense).
Weber will continue to be a tough short-yardage runner for the Buckeyes, but he is also going to be involved in the passing game and will be hitting big runs on any given carry. The change of pace between Dobbins and Weber will be significant, but more important will be the fresh legs in the fourth quarter and the fresh legs in November.
This is likely also Weber’s contract season as he expects to leave for the NFL after this year. Expect him to run as hard as he’s ever run, and expect that effort to result in Weber’s best season as a Buckeye.
What They Are Saying
“I feel good. I’ve been eating right and staying in the training room. I’m 100% right now and I feel good. I feel like there’s always room for improvement. There’s a lot of things that I’ve done that I know I could have done better. Just little things like that, like staying in the training room, making sure I’m staying healthy, or staying in the classroom, or going over the film work. Getting better with my Xs and Os. There’s always room to improve, so I feel like this spring I did a lot of things differently this year to improve myself and enhance my game to the next level.” — Mike Weber
“Most of the part was being healthy, but the other half was me just working on things in the offseason that I needed to work on, like speed training, my wind and how long I run, and stuff like that. There was a lot of things I did that summer before I got hurt to become more explosive and faster. It showed when I got healthy. If I stay healthy, everything should fall into place.” — Mike Weber on why the long runs happened for him last year
“When you’re on the field, you get reps. That’s been a good thing for him and everyone else too. Because all of a sudden his reps don’t get heaped upon someone else. But knock on wood he has done a good job of staying healthy. He’s really doing a good job of taking care of his body. Our doctors and our trainers and the strength and conditioning staff have been amazing. Mike has followed their lead and he’s done a nice job.” — Tony Alford
